Many people have discovered that their medical problems often can be solved by obtaining help from trained personnel, such as masseurs, athletic trainers and chiropractors to massage the spinal areas along the length of the spinal column. These trained professionals have knowledge of many manual techniques that can be applied to one's back, using the hands and fingers. Accordingly, various massage machines have been developed for manipulating and flexing the back muscles on both sides of the spinal column of a person lying in a supine position such as seen, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,175,614. This patent discloses a machine having a plurality of rollers that are each supported by coil springs arranged along each side of a carriage that is movably mounted on tracks arranged to move along the spinal area. The carriage is moved back and forth along its tracks so that the rollers engage and massage the back of the person lying face-up on a hammock suspended above the rollers but with the rollers being in contact with the spinal area.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,577,646, also discloses a massaging machine having a horizontal table that accommodates a person lying face-up on the table with his spine centered over an elongated longitudinal opening in the central portion of the table. A plurality of rollers are rotatably mounted to the edges of parallel endless belts arranged below the surface of the table within the opening. The belts drive the rollers to move along the length of the elongated opening and thereby contact the spine with a rolling action to the spinal area of the person lying on the table.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,272 discloses therapeutic traction applied to the body by carriages supported on rails for cyclic longitudinal movement.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,862 shows another massaging machine which includes two sets of rollers having ends positioned to provide an upwardly-facing concavity for receiving the back of a person as the rollers are moved along each side of the spinal column of that person.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,738 is a disease testing apparatus for the spine and is cited to show an arrangement of pressure members 64, as seen in FIG. 8 thereof, for example.
Another prior-art massaging apparatus arranged to impart upward and downward movements to a massaging device is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 1,638,025. This massaging apparatus includes elongated bars that are operatively journaled at their ends to rotate and move the bars about parallel longitudinal axes, with there being curved portions of the bars transversely aligned and the ends of a plurality of closely-spaced slats are loosely connected to the bars to support a person midway between the bars. As the bars rotate, the slats remain horizontal and move vertically for imparting a rocking and undulating motion to the back of a person lying on the slats.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,528 shows a machine with a single horizontal roller mounted on a carriage that is moved to selectively position the roller below a person's back area that requires a massaging action. The roller is rotatably mounted between spaced vertically-movable members and reciprocated by cranks mounted in an out-of-phase relationship on opposite ends of a rotating shaft, whereupon rotation of the shaft rocks the roller in a vertical plane as the opposed ends alternately move up and down by the members.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,808 applies cyclic thrusting force against the back of a person by the use of thruster members around one or more vertebra of the spinal column, as shown in FIG. 3 at 201, 202 and 203. Fluid cylinder 300 reciprocates the rod 200 longitudinally to engage the back with the round members at 260, 261 and 262.
By the present invention, there is made available an improved massaging machine, made in accordance with the present invention, which is capable of imparting a selected massaging action to a multiplicity of areas adjacent the spinal column on the back of a person in a new and different manner. The resultant massaging action provides unexpected beneficial results that would be difficult to manually duplicate by most trained professionals. This desirable massaging treatment is achieved by the provision of an array of massaging thrusters, each having a massaging fixture attached thereto and having a massaging members depending there-from for engaging both sides of the spinal column at the same time with an unusual motion that commences in proximity of the lower spinal column where a relative large circular motion is imparted to the massaging member; and terminates at the head end of the spinal column where a relative small circular motion is imparted to the massaging members contacting the back. At the same time, the array of thrusters are all moved up and down longitudinally of the spinal column at a low rate of travel respective to the rate of rotation imparted into each of the thrusters. Accordingly, the combination of the reciprocating movement and the circular movement provides a resultant motion that describes a spiral pattern commencing with a large diameter spiral in the lower spinal region and progressively diminishes along the spinal column towards the head.
The thrusters are resiliently biased into engagement with the spinal area with an adjustable force that include means for selecting the magnitude of the force of the engaging massaging members.
An unexpected advantage of this method and apparatus of mechanically massaging a persons back in the area of the spinal column is realized from an apparatus made in accordance with this invention. The geometry of the thrusters together with the supporting structure and the complex pattern of movement described by the thrusters induce a harmonic motion into the resiliently biased thrusters which is translocated to the interface between the skin of the back and the massaging member whereby unexpected low friction engagement is realized while the longitudinal and circular moving massaging members bear against the skin, which is very desirable for it enhances the therapeutic value of the massaging action of the massaging apparatus.
Method and apparatus for achieving the above desirable results is made possible by the provision of an apparatus made in accordance with the present invention as will be more fully realized when this disclosure is more fully digested.